Oscar is a Sicilian native who spends his days under the hot Sicilian sun, scouring the landscape for scrap metal with his brother and father. Stanley is a Nigerian migrant worker, who does the odd job he can find thanks to a parish priest – mopping a church floor, herding sheep, picking grapes, whatever gets him closer to a better life that he is striving for.
Il Mio Corpo documents these two individuals who don’t really have much in common, other than the fact that their routines are monotonous with their futures seeming fairly uncertain. It’s all about what they can do right now to break free from their daily struggles. For Oscar, it’s all about just getting enough scrap metal so they can get enough money to get through the day. It’s clearly not what he enjoys or wants to do, but his circumstances force him to be stuck in it and unfortunately paints a picture of him probably staying there for quite some time. His frustrations mount as his unstable relationship with his father further confirms his inability to move forward and truly escape.
Stanley, on the other side of town is living with a fellow Nigerian, who is in the process of applying to be an asylum seeker. Stanley, thankfully, has a work visa valid for two years, but despite this, his future also remains uncertain. Will he just be doing the odd-job for as long as he can stay in Sicily? Will he manage to get something better? Will he be able to stay? His situation may be more stable than his friend, but receives constant pressure to bring money in as the breadwinner, otherwise he has no place to stay.
Snapshots of temporary joy are only captured a handful of times between them, and these moments are fleeting. Oscar goes bike riding with his brother, Stanley dances at a house party. These moments have them dethatching briefly from their lives, but the lack of obvious enthusiasm, even in these small, sparse moments, indicates how they are still stuck in their current woes and aimless future.
Slightly fictionalized, Il Mio Corpo goes along with its subjects, pushing and edging them closer and closer to each other in hopes of a fateful encounter, with these individuals bound to share a spiritual affinity with each other. Although, on paper we don’t share the same background and circumstances, it’s hard not to see them in ourselves – just wandering souls trying to break free from our monotonous routine and regain control of our future.
UK residents and VPN users can rent Il Mio Corpo over at Curzon Home Cinema right now.
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